Ajay Devgn: is the superstar cut out for comic roles?

Ajay Devgn was recently awarded the Golden Kela for his 'worst' performance in the 2012 films Son of Sardaar and Bol Bachchan. We take a look at his other comic forays and whether he should continue with such ventures at all. VOTE

Ajay Devgn was recently awarded the Golden Kela for his 'worst' performances in the 2012 films Son of Sardaar and Bol Bachchan. We take a look at his other comic forays and whether he should continue with such ventures at all.

While most of Devgn's comedies, two being last year's Bol Bachchan and Son of Sardaar, have been hits, if not blockbusters, the actor has drawn flak from critics for his performance in the films.

Son of Sardaar was universally panned by critics of leading sites. HT's Anupama Chopra, gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, describing it as "exhausting, painfully loud and way too long, with too few laughs."

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN too, called it "only sporadically entertaining, and peddles the same tired stereotypes of Punjab and Sikhs."

And in fact, NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee gave the film 1.5 stars and called it "a tangled mess that has no way of working its way around the sloppy screenplay".

As if copying the name Golmaal wasn't enough, Rohit Shetty decided to remake the film too with Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan in Bol Bachchan last year. And Ajay Devgn is seen with a syndrome of literal translation, gone awry. Again, renowned critics seemed unhappy with the film. Aniruddha Guha of DNA India gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "Bol Bachchan, overall, falls short of being a laugh riot in spite of having the ammunition for it. In its current form, it’s best enjoyed inebriated."

HT critic Anupama Chopra wrote, "Bol Bachchan, like most of Shetty’s earlier films, including the Golmaal series and All the Best: Fun Begins, isn’t so much a film as a series of gags strung together with songs and the requisite car-bashing action. There is no attempt at plotting, storytelling, delineating a character, building coherence or following logic. Shetty’s only agenda is to give you a good time." She adds: A fitting label would be: The Cinema of Exhaustion.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and concluded that "Bol Bachchan is a comedy so absurd that it could reduce you to tears of despair. Conversely, if you have the stomach for such rampant silliness, it might propel you into paroxysms of delight. The call is entirely yours."

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote, "In Bol Bachchan however, the running gag on Devgn's clunky English gets tiresome after a point."

Action-hero Ajay Devgn essentially started playing the lead in a comedy only since the Golmaal series, again a franchise by Rohit Shetty that started off well but seemed more and more laboured with time and every sequel. Other than the franchise, Devgn was also in comedies like Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji, Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge and All The Best: Fun Begins.

While these may not be our favourite or the most fun films, but all said and done, Ajay Devgn's comedy films have clean and almost impeccable box office record. So despite some scathing reviews, must Ajay Devgn continue his comedy capers?